To:AN UNIDENTIFIED ADDRESSEE

Published:First published in 1964 inCollected Works, Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 47.

      Printed from the original.

      Translated from the German.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1977],

      Moscow,Volume 43,

      pages231-232a.Translated:Martin Parker and Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.

Iam very well aware of the scientific character of the dictionary and
would gladly give you all the information you wish concerning the history
of Social-Democracy in Russia. But at the moment, unfortunately, I could
not possibly write a brief essay on the history of
Social-Democracy.[2]

Thereis some good information up to 1904 in the report to the
Amsterdam International Congress of 1904—Lidin, [M.]Explanatory
Material Bearing on the Crisis in Russian Social-Democracy(Geneva)
[1904] and several articles by different authors inNeue Zeit.

InAugust 1910 an international congress will be held in
Copenhagen. Presumably the official report of our Party (Social-Democratic
Labour Party of Russia) will appear within a few months.

Therehave been two major trends in the S.D. movement in
1903–09—“Mensheviks” and “Bolsheviks”. InNeue Zeityou
will find articles by representatives of both trends.

Bibliography:Cherevanin (Menshevik), reviews inVorwärtsandLeipziger
Volkszeitung.[3]Trotsky, middle position (Vermittlerstellung)
(Russland in Revolution, 1910).

Imyself belong to the “Bolshevik” trend.

[Thereare] articles by Trotsky in German also inKampf(Austrian S.D.
review).[4]

Pleaseexcuse me for not being able to give you a systematic essay.

Respectfullyyours,Vl. UlyanovLenin[1]

4.RueMarie Rose. 4. Paris. XIV.

[1]Theword “Lenin” was added later in pencil.—Ed.

[2]Whoasked Lenin to write an essay on the history of Social-Democracy in
Russia has not been established. It may have been the editor of
“Schulthers’ Europäischer Geschichts-Kalender”.

[3]LeipzigerVolkszeitung—a Social-Democratic daily published
from 1894 to 1933. For a number of years it was edited by Franz Mehring and
Rosa Luxemburg and was the organ of the Left Social-Democrats. From 1917 to
1922 it was the organ of the German Independents, and after 1922, of the
Right-wing Social-Democrats.

[4]DerKampf—a monthly, organ of the Austrian Social-Democrats,
published in Vienna from 1907 to 1934. Its orientation was opportunist,
Centrist, camouflaged with Left phraseology.